April 07, 2006
Am I covered by Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Benefits?
All persons insured under a policy which contains uninsured motorist benefits, are covered whether driving a vehicle listed under the policy or any other vehicles which are driven with permission of the true owner. Even vehicles that are owned but not covered under the policy may have uninsured motorist benefits extended to them unless specifically excluded. The named insureds in a policy are typically referred to as first class insureds according to Lambert v. Mutual Insurance Company, 331 So. 2d 260 (Ala. 1976). In St. Paul v. Henson, 479 So. 2d 1253, 1253 (Ala. 1985) the court affirmed its previous decision in Gatson v. Integrity Insurance Company 451 So. 2d. 361 (Ala. Civ. App. 1984) and further noted prior holdings in which it had held that:
“uninsured motorist coverage inures to a person, not a vehicle and the coverage is not dependent on the insured being injured in connection with a vehicle which is covered by the liability insurer.”
The second class insureds are permissive users of the vehicle and any passengers in the vehicle who are not named insureds or relatives living with named insureds. See Lambert, supra. Circumstances may arise in which an individual is able to stack more than three uninsured motorist coverages by virtue of the fact that more than one policy may be applicable to the accident in question. In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Fox, 541 So. 2d 1070 (Ala. 1989) a passenger was able to stack five uninsured motorist coverages by virtue of there being five policies involved.
Another passenger may be an unborn child. An unborn child who is harmed in an accident, and later born alive, is also covered when uninsured motorist coverage is available. Alabama Farm Bureau v. Pigott, 390 So. 2d 1379 (Ala. 1981).
Uninsured motorist coverage inures to a person rather than to a vehicle however, there is still coverage in a vehicle covered under an uninsured motorist policy for passengers riding in a insured vehicle. State Farm v. Jackson, 462 So. 2d 346, 353 (Ala. 1984).
If you are in bankruptcy court and did not purchase automobile liability insurance but it was rather purchased by a creditor, you will usually find that there is no uninsured motorist coverage available.